Happiness: An Illusion Essay, Research Paper

Happiness: An Illusion

Happiness: An Illusion? Perhaps the most elusive state that humans experience

is the illusion of happiness. This state can not be defined as any one state.

Through experience I have seen that happiness is a combination of human

emotions and states of mind. Exploring this state of being has consumed the

philosophical minds of the ages and will continue to do so for ages to come.

What is happiness? In an unofficial poll of students at the University of West

Florida, I found that of the thirty-eight students and one professor, males and

females of several ethnic backgrounds and age groups, that I asked the

question ?What is happiness to you??, all of them had very different physical,

intellectual, or emotional motivator for their happiness. Only the professor

stated what happiness was to him. The students, ranging in age from 20 years

to 45 years, all spoke of material things that would make them happy. They

couldn?t seem to grasp ?happiness? as a concept in itself. The questions that

are asked when exploring the concept of happiness should begin with desire to

know if it is a pleasure based in our basic and primitive emotions. Next, is

happiness motivated by pure desire? Does a mental state of contentment

produce happiness? Does happiness come from a simple, physical feeling?

Maybe happiness is a combination of all of these. According to John Mill, The

creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest

Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to

promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.

By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness,

pain, and the privation of pleasure. To give a clear view of the moral standard

set up by the theory, much more requires to be said; in particular, what things it

in- cludes in the ideas of pain and pleasure; and to what extent this is left an

open question. But these supplementary explanations do not affect the theory

of life on which this theory of morality is grounded namely, that pleasure, and

freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends; and that all desirable

things (which are as numerous in the utilitarian as in any other scheme) are

desirable either for the pleasure inherent in themselves, or as means to the

promotion of pleasure and the prevention of pain. (Pojman 917) Mill seems to

think that happiness comes from the desire to be completely pain-free. He says

that happiness comes from selfishly fulfilled desires. The desire to attain only

pleasure is ludicrous; for a person to achieve a completely pain-free existence

is impossible. To gain complete happiness would leave them with no motivation

to achieve anything else. Human nature is such that if a person achieved pure

happiness, that person would then become dissatisfied with that happiness,

causing them to, once again, be unhappy. A person will always experience

something contrary to pleasure, leaving them with some type of pain. In my

opinion, people seem to be happy for many different reasons at different times

in their lives. I feel that for most people, happiness is a contented state of mind.

Of course, this state of mind is sometimes associated with pleasures of the

senses. Therefore, happiness can be achieved in many ways. Today, people

seem to be interested in the pleasures of the flesh as a means to happiness.

This may be due to the anesthetized feelings that we have developed from the

staggering amount of information pushed upon us every day. This lack of

sensation causes a need that when filled is often mistaken for happiness. As a

general rule, I feel, people are extremely complex creatures. Their ability for

abstract thought seperates them from any other creature on earth, but it also

makes them unique unto themselves. What makes one person happy may or

may not make another person happy. Happiness, in and of itself, in my opinion,

in unattainable. To be content with a minimum of worries is as close to absolute

happiness as a person can come. For myself, I believe that true happiness is an

illusion. I believe in the desire-driven theory of happiness. When I find the need

for the illusion of happiness, I attempt to achieve it by fulfilling my temporary

needs through the gratification of my immediate desires. I find that contentment

and the drive to continue to achieve my desires is much more important than

the illusion of happiness. Sunday, January 23, 2000

Pojman, Louis P. Classics of Philosophy: Volume II Modern and

Contemporary. New York: Oxford UP, 1998.